U.S. Budget Surplus Projection Grows

The Congressional Budget Office will project an enormous $2.17 trillion in federal surpluses over the next decade, officials said, further fueling the election-year battle over what to do with the government’s mountains of excess cash. The estimate by the nonpartisan CBO, contained in agency documents distributed on Capitol Hill, was higher than expected but not a major surprise. CBO’s projection had been expected to somewhat exceed last month’s estimate by the White House Budget Office, which more than doubled its own earlier 10-year surplus forecast to $1.87 trillion. The new figures exclude Social Security’s huge surpluses.